EU proposal for screening of Foreign Direct Investments

The European Commission has presented proposed legislation that would create an EU framework for screening of foreign takeovers and investments on grounds of security and public policy.

The draft Regulation would allow the Commission to review (but not block) certain investments of "Union interest" and to issue a non-binding opinion to the member state in which the investment takes place. It would also clarify the scope of the issues that member states may take into account when applying their national screening regimes without falling foul of EU law, set certain common standards for those regimes and implement a system of cooperation and information exchange between member states and the Commission.

EU proposal for screening of foreign direct investments

The European Commission has presented proposed legislation that would create an EU framework for screening of foreign takeovers and investments on grounds of security and public policy.

The draft Regulation would allow the Commission to review (but not block) certain investments of "Union interest" and to issue a non-binding opinion to the member state in which the investment takes place. It would also clarify the scope of the issues that member states may take into account when applying their national screening regimes without falling foul of EU law, set certain common standards for those regimes and implement a system of cooperation and information exchange between member states and the Commission.